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PNS Daily Newscast - March 21, 2019

The nation’s acting Defense Secretary is under investigation for promoting Boeing, his former employer. Also on the Thursday rundown: The Trump administration’s spending blueprint being called a “bully budget.” Plus, a call for the feds to protect consumers from abusive lenders.

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David Rudovsky, a founding partner and criminal defense attorney with the firm Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing and Feinberg, says in 33 percent of stops police did not have the required "reasonable suspicion".

"And beyond that, when we monitor all the frisks, that is situations where the police supposedly have a good reason to think someone's armed and dangerous, in fewer than one percent of the cases is a weapon discovered," says Rudovsky.

The data also showed that while racial minorities make up half of the city's population, blacks and Latinos accounted for three quarters of all stops and almost 90 percent of frisks.

In a conference before the judge Tuesday morning, the city outlined steps it will take to improve adherence to the terms of the consent decree and establish better accountability.

Rudovsky points out if there is no improvement there are actions the court can take.

"The judge has wide discretion at that point in terms of monetary sanctions or other penalties that can be imposed if the city doesn't comply," he says.

Some large cities maintain records of police tactics such as stop and frisk, but Rudovsky says unless the stops result in arrests, most municipalities do not. And that makes it difficult to know just how widespread and pervasive any police abuses are.

"This is not unique to Philadelphia," he says. "Pro-active policing, which stop and frisk is part of, carries with it enormous risks of interfering with innocent people's lives and privacy."

In 2013 a federal court ruled that New York City Police had engaged in a similar pattern of unconstitutional stops and frisks.